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Can gliomas provide insights into promoting synaptogenesis?

Molecular Psychiatry volume 25, pages 1920–1925 (2020)Cite this article

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While many neurological disorders such as autism and Alzheimer’s disease manifest as circuit dysfunctions, gaps in our understanding of how synapses form have challenged regenerative medicine efforts. Recent discoveries that glial tumors form functional synaptic connections with resident neurons provide new avenues to interrogate early mechanisms of synaptogenesis. The further exploration of this aberrant and novel observation could lead to new insights for fundamental neurobiology and aid in designing new treatment strategies for a wide variety of devastating neurodevelopmental and neurodegenerative diseases.

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Fig. 1: Parallels between neurodevelopment and glioblastoma biology.
Fig. 2: Deciphering molecular regulators of synapse formation by studying gliomas.

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Acknowledgements

UD received stipend support from the Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology Program at the University of Toronto and a Canadian Cancer Society Innovation Grant. PD receives funding support from the Princess Margaret Cancer Foundation, Ontario Institute for Cancer Research, Canadian Cancer Society Innovation Fund and The Terry Fox New Investigator Awards Program. We thank Dr Vuk Stambolic for helpful discussions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, 101 College Street, Toronto, ON, M5G 1L7, Canada

    Jessica Malcolm, Clare Fiala, Ugljesa Djuric & Phedias Diamandis

  2. Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, M5S 1A8, Canada

    Ugljesa Djuric & Phedias Diamandis

  3. Laboratory Medicine Program, University Health Network, 200 Elizabeth Street, Toronto, ON, Toronto, ON, M5G 2C4, Canada

    Phedias Diamandis

  4. Department of Medical Biophysics, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada

    Phedias Diamandis

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  1. Jessica Malcolm
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Correspondence to Phedias Diamandis.

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Malcolm, J., Fiala, C., Djuric, U. et al. Can gliomas provide insights into promoting synaptogenesis?. Mol Psychiatry 25, 1920–1925 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41380-020-0795-4

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